Czech Republic – Switzerland Under-16 teams Game 3 recap

By Robert Neuhauser

November 14th, 2001

By Robert Neuhauser and Ivana Paulova

After 4:0 and 3:1 losses in the three-game series played in the Czech Republic last weekthe Swiss team was eager to capture at least one victory in this series. On Sunday they hadthe last chance. The contest took place in Slany and the audience could look forward to aninteresting match. Two different styles met there. The Czechs use their typical smart gameand rely on skill and finesse while the Swiss play with high determination and tend tofire the pucks and look for rebounds and loose pucks.

The Czechs gave chance to all three of their goalies and this time stood Slavia Praha midgetsnetminder Petr Bezunk between the pipes. The Swiss brought two goalies to the Czech Republicand in this game coach Charly Oppliger has put his faith in Igor Rossi. Both sides shuffledthe lineup a bit and the lines looked different than in the previous two games.

Since the opening faceoff the Czechs were dominant in the game with their individual skills,the Swiss defense looked porous at the beginning of the game and only a piece of luck wasmissing on the Czech side. The young Czechs seemed to fly on the ice and could takeadvantage of one-on-one situations, where they were better. The first quality chance camethree minutes into the game, Radomir Cizek fired from the top right faceoff circle, Rossi madethe save but allowed a rebound. Vaclav Meindl tried to lift the puck over the Swiss goaliebefore the Swiss defensemen checked him down on the ice.The Swiss players tried to penetrate into the Czech zone off the wings, fire at Bezunkand then rebound the puck. Stefan Moser delighted the crowd with a beautiful move when hedeked the Czech defenseman and Petr Bezunk increased the excitement of the audience when hefound Moser’s shot in his glove.After the first ten minutes when the game was more up-and-down the defenses began to takethe leading role. The Czech defensemen were concentrating on keeping the Swiss playersoff the slot and so they couldn’t look for rebounds. The forwards were also helping a lot,but they had to score a goal first. Zdenek Bahensky had a very good powerplay chance, hereceived the puck in the neutral zone, reached high speed after a few strides and faked bothSwiss defensemen on his way to the Swiss goal off the left wing. Then he tried to bringRossi out of position with a forehand-backhand stick move and then lifted the puck. Again onlyluck was missing, the puck hit the right goalpost.The Swiss players relied more on individual raids into the Czech zone more than on a whole lineperformance. Alternate captain Raffaele Diaz had two huge chances on his shift, first he hadtrouble with a hard pass which came across the slot, the puck jumped over his stick and Bezunkhad to breathe a sigh of relief because he was standing at the other side of the net at thattime. Only seconds later Diaz was on a lone breakaway but his low wrist shot was turned awayby Bezunk.At 17:44 the score changed for the first time and Igor Rossi was the one who had to bring thepuck out of the net. Jan Dusatko won the puck at the boards in the neutral zone and passedit to Michal Birner, one of the top prospects for the 2004 draft. Birner deked the Swissdefenseman while the other was unsuccesfully chasing him as he was crossing the Swiss zone.Rossi had to move to other goalpost and right in this moment Birner unleashed an accuratewrist shot to beat Rossi high blocker side. The Czechs had finaly their lead and they weren’ttantalized any more. It was evident in their play, they skated more effortlessly andwere in control of the game.

They didn’t loose the control also in the second period. The play was in front of Rossi formost of the time and the Swiss players had really a tough time with the Czech defense. Thefuture looks very bright for the Czechs in defense as there were three 1987 born underagersin the defensive corps. None of the Czech defensemen allowed to be brought out of positionand they kept the play in front of them. The Swiss had no breakway chances and the Czechdefensemen made fast passes immediately as they took the puck away from the Swiss players.The forwards then showed their skills, only that they could shoot more on Rossi, someof his saves looked quite weak. But the Czechs sometimes overhandled the puck and so somechances were over before they really began.Ostrava midgets winger Martin Bucek had one great chance soon after the beginning of theperiod but he couldn’t pop the jumping puck into the almost empty net. Rossi was lucky again.He surely wasn’t at 5:10 of the second period. Alternate captain Karel Hromas fed MichalBirner with a pass in the Swiss zone, Birner shuffled the puck, fooled Rossi and suddenlyhe lifted it into the air from a two feet distance from Rossi. The puck hit the crossbar andfinished behind Rossi’s back. That was Birner’s second goal in the game.Trinec midgets center Vaclav Meindl showed that he is a prospect to count on with his playin this three-game series. He proved it also in this game and in the second period as heprepared a great scoring chance in the 11th minute. Meindl made two elusive moves to avoidhits from the Swiss defensemen, raced to the Swiss zone and passed the puck to his Trinecmidgets teammate David Krejci, but Rossi moved fast to the other goalpost and the puck hitonly his pads.The Swiss team didn’t make use of a 85 seconds lasting two-man advantage, Vladimir Villardmissed an almost empty net but the puck wasn’t calm on his stick and it was very toughto control. So there was a chance on the Czech side and it was Vaclav Meindl again whohad the chance. He got a puck on his stick near the Swiss blue line and the Swiss defensemenallowed a breakaway. Meindl decided to shoot but he missed the net.On the other side of hockey skill Jakub Kindl, one of the 1987 born defensemen delivereda booming open-ice hit for which he got some cheers from the audience.For this game the coaches formed a great offensive line of Lubomir Stach and captainAdam Lukacovic ondefense and Karel Hromas-Jan Dusatko-Michal Birner on offense. This line could also carry thename “Praha line” because except of Stach who is from Vsetin midgetsall the players play for one of the top two Praha midget teams-Sparta or Slavia. Those players combined really well and their overall skill and hockeysense made the Swiss opposition look funny sometimes. All of those players are 2004 eligibleand all of them can be considered as serious prospects.

During the third period the pace of the game slowed down a bit and the Czech team went thestraighest way to victory. The Swiss players skated faster and sometimes they could bringthemselves into scoring position but the Czech defense did a good job in keeping Bezunk agood view on the puck and preventing rebounds and odd man rushes. The Czech forwards stillcreated nice scoring chances but they didn’t have enough time or luck to score. With SimonBachmann in the penalty box Radek Smolenak had a good chance, he went with the puck onhis stick behind the Swiss net, shuffled the puck and tried to surprise Rossi. The surprisedidn’t come out, Rossi had his pad next to the goalpost where Smolenak wanted to fire the puckinto the Swiss net.Almost the same situation took place in the 7th minute, but this time it was Vaclav Meindlwho was shuffling the puck behind the Swiss net. And also at this time Rossi was ready andthe Swiss were still trailing by two goals.The Czechs quite easily controlled the game in the third period and it looked like the Swissteam run out of steam and that they know that they won’t turn the game over.Karel Hromas could increase the lead in the 12th minute when he took away the puck from a Swissdefenseman, turned over, saw nobody attacking him and so he tried to deke Rossi but hisattempt to lift the puck over Rossi’s shoulder went high over the Swiss net.Five minutes later the Czechs created the last scoring chance. In was an individual play ofTrinec midgets center David Krejci, Krejci got the puck in his own zone, slipped past oneSwiss player as he crossed the red line and now he had only one defenseman in front of him.Krejci tried to move around him while he left the puck between the Swiss player’s legs.It was a nice play but the Swiss player was able to fire the puck away. During the last three minutesof the game the Czechs ruled and they just defended their two-goal lead. The last five secondsthe Czech bench was standing and the players celebrated the victory. After that they ralliedto Petr Bezunk who got the shutout. The fact is that he didn’t have to face many shots andwhen there was suddenly a Swiss chance he had to make a save even if he didn’t have to fora long time before which isn’t good for a goalie. He along with Michal Birner were one ofthe best Czech players in this game.

Coach Vlastimil Koci’s comment:We were totally dominant in this game, which wasn’t a surething in the last game. But today we really controlled the game and the puck skills ofour players were better than those of the Swiss players. I think that our biggest weaponwas combination. If I’m to name the top players today then the line of Karel Hromas-Jan Dusatko-Michal Birner was really outstanding this game.This three-game series gave us many tips for the future. To sum up the contest, our playersshowed that they were over the Swiss, especially in individual skills. Their passingand puckhandling was really very good and our guys were creative and able to realize theirideas. It was an interesting confrontation with Swiss hockey and I’m glad to say that wewere better. All of our players had a good showing and I’m satisfied with their play.

Michal Birner’s comment:I’m very happy that I scored two goals today. The coaches shuffledthe lineup, created new lines and our line was really very good. We did a good job, in thefirst game I didn’t play very well even though I scored one goal,on Saturday I think I had my best showing but I wentscoreless – I didn’t hit the empty net twice and once my shot ended at the goalpost. TheSwiss players played quite aggresive, their coaches taught them the Canadian style of playbut their style of defense was concentrated on defending every player personally and ifanyone could deke the opposing player, we had a scoring chance. We had enough motivation fromthe previous three-game series against Slovakia and I think that our combination wasdominating in this series.

We are looking forward to give you detailed info on the upcoming World Junior Championship,that will take place in the Czech Republic. You will be able toread game recaps, interviews with thebest players and interesting player profiles. Watch out!